Eliot Dix's E-portfolio

Scroll to see sample pieces and writing reflections from competed honors courses. 

English 165 Honors: Writing and Rhetoric:

About this Piece:

The document below is an academic article completed over a number of weeks using other academic source material as references. The topic was Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC), and this project was completed with the guidance of Professor Elise Green. Within the fourteen pages is an IMRaD (Introduction, Methods, Results/Analysis, Discussion) structured article, as well as a literature review and references.

Reflection:

This piece of writing may have been the single most important thing I did in a classroom this school year. Academic writing as a medium for research was quite foreign to me when coming to Longwood. My high school self was beyond satisfied with ” .org ” source material, and basic google searches to supplement my research. I was rudely awakened to a very different kind of resource upon enrolling at Longwood. Academic articles intimidated and overwhelmed me with their length and density. I recall feeling suffocated in a sea of content specific language that I was under-qualified to even be ‘analyzing.’ As I meticulously read each word, constantly having to reign in my mind to maintain focus, I thought toward my future as a college student, wondering how I’d ever affectively navigate academic writing. Through taking English 165 we dissected full length academic articles, starting by understanding the rhetorical situation. We then carefully unraveled structural elements and built our understanding as readers. Making the step to author our own research based academic article solidified my understanding of the medium, and created a ripple affect that positively affected all of my courses.  Understanding work for academic audiences, and thus being able to contribute to the on going discussions of experts opened new doors for me, and broadened my horizon as a learner.

Citizen 110 Honors: Social Entrepreneurship and Global Citizenship

About this Piece: 

Below is a social entrepreneurship project that entailed choosing a major issue in society we were most passionate about, and creating a business to solve it. These are certainly some high stakes, however we came up with the poster presentation below as well as a video that explains our vision for creating affordable health care in the US. We would later present our poster at the research symposium.

Reflection:

This assignment was a bit daunting initially. By first choosing a major social issue, in this case affordable/accessible health care,  I was unsure about how creating a profitable business model could solve this conflict that feels deeply rooted in government policy that supports a corrupt for-profit system. However, Professor Dolence encouraged us to try and imagine a way we could change the system from within, as we cannot individually (for the sake of this project) bring government funded health care to the United States. We devised the basic idea behind a system of medical buses that would exist in areas of need to provide basic health care for free without need for proof of insurance. The funding became the difficult piece of the puzzle provided that we couldn’t just rely on tax revenue and be a state by state financed medical service. We settled upon campaigning for grants, and donations as being the only possible way to fund the project, which in the real world would certainly present a bit of an issue. Regardless, the project allowed us to think critically and creatively, as well as providing us an opportunity to investigate a social/political issue that was important to our group. We presented our work at the Honors Research Symposium, which gave us a great opportunity to gain support and feedback. Personally I found the most joy in this process in being able to advocate against the for-profit health care system that exists in America. Even if our idea was perhaps a bit less than feasible, we were still able to be an active voice against an institution that denies so many Americans the human right of medical care.

HON:SpTp: Media and Democracy

About this Piece

Fall 2020

The following document is my final paper from this course, which took the form of an Op-ed style article.

Reflection:

This class was a lecture style with a big participation component. We discussed in detail the way our current media landscape impacts our democracy from the local to national level. Professor Pope is a former employee of the associated press, which made this experience all the more engaging. President Reevely guest spoke in this course as well. My main takeaway from Honors Media and democracy was how imperative it is to maintain and fund local news outlets. Without local news local government is not critiqued and policed. Our democracy at a macro level depends on these micro news efforts. We discussed the privatization of news outlets, and the functionality of the supreme court, among other riveting topics throughout the semester.

HON: Explorations in Environmental Science

Spring 2021

Reflection

This class was largely lecture and exam based with an class research project component conducted during lab periods. The only samples I have from this course are slideshow presentations larger than 2mb’s each, so they cannot be added here. We dove deep into biogeochemistry, talked about watersheds, and discussed rising levels of carbon in our atmosphere and nitrogen in our soils. This class forever cemented the how devastating our carbon footprints are. Dr. Ellis has inspired me to be conscious of my choices as they relate to reducing my impact on greenhouse gas emissions. In our lab period we learned how to utilize dichotomous keys to recognize different tree types. We employed this knowledge doing field work on Longwood’s campus in which we contributed data for a nationwide tree census.

HON: Popular Music and Culture

About this Piece

Fall 2021

The following term paper was the end of semester assignment for my Honors 295 Popular Music and Culture class.

Reflection

This course was a favorite of mine thus far, up there with my media and democracy class. This course dove into fascinating examples of pop music that had historic impacts on society. Specifically within the discourse of gender roles and sexuality. We examined how current events and affairs are represented within pop music. Additionally we studied some of the great catalysts of self expression who lasting impact on music as it changes and develops. Joni Mitchell and her experience as a women in the folk scene was one example, another being David Bowie and his gender fluid self expression. This course just felt like a trip back in time, giving me an opportunity to get to know the music my parents played around the house growing up.

HON: Directed Study

Spring 2022

Reflection

The 2022 Windsheim Longwood Directed Study was in it’s 2nd year and served as my study abroad requirement. This 1 credit course allowed us to group up and zoom in with Dutch students to collaborate on a social entrepreneurship venture centered around climate change. Working with students on the other side of the globe was a unique experience I’ve never had. I give much credit to the Dutch girls in my group as we had to rely on them being bilingual for any communication to be possible! Together we created a podcast to discuss the concept of an app that encourages artists to use found materials to create work in the spirit of combating climate change. We learned valuable lessons in time management given our group working on two completely different time zones. It was critical to be flexible in this process, as well as be patient and understanding while navigating the language barrier. I attach the podcast here if it was a small enough file to fit on this portfolio.